Improved or Slipped on Paper? (1 Viewer)

[Stalwart385]

I would go with a slipped somewhere in the running game. Losing Unger and Ingram will probably show somehow. Unger may have declined and McCoy may be great but there is a large learning curve between the two regardless of how the talent falls out. Same with Ingram. Murray may be good enough to not see a drop in talent (along with more Kamara and possibly better depth), but Ingram was in this system for a long time. The learning curve alone may be a setback. Overall I don't think it will be an issue and considering Ingram didn't get going till later it may ultimately be a push, but I wouldn't be surprised to see some struggles early.

 

[onanygivensunday]

Who slipped on a piece of paper and how are they doing now?

 

[Nevimeister]

I think we are improved

Jared Cook is the biggest upgrade as the 2nd receiving option and few to no teams can match up with Thomas, Cook and Kamara (Ginn will keep them honest)

Marcus Davenport if healthy will be a huge upgrade at DE. As I posted separately he was dominating in splashes during the 4 game span he got injured (4 sacks, 2 TFL, 1 PD, 1 FF, could have been another against Minnesota called back). He was also a raw prospect and has a year of studying and conditioning under his belt

O-Line. We were on pace to break the all time scoring record with a fully healthy O-line last year, we simply toyed with Cincinnati. This is still a huge if but Amstead will hopefully be healthier even if dealing with an inevitable injury (should be less than a torn pec). Andrus Peat is nowhere near elite but his PFF grade tanked last year again dealing with injury which then showed up Unger who declined quickly. Hoping for a healthy Peat in a contract year and McCoy to show what he did on tape against Clemson and Alabama dominating 1st round D-line picks

The biggest downside is DT, no sugar coating that. Whilst Brown is an upgrade over Davison the absence of Rankins is huge. Onyemata has never been a full time starter and may be facing a ban. Whilst rotation of Onyemata and Edwards may get the job done over 8 games it is a) no guarantee and b) a significant downgrade to what Rankins gave as a starter and effecting protection schemes

Finishing with a positive I believe Eli Apple continues his upwards trajectory and shows more consistency. Also Anzalone plays a bigger role and one more receiving options emerges - beit Meredith returning from injury, Tre'quan learning the playbook or Kirkwood taking a leap

 

[Mpro2]

Who slipped on a piece of paper and how are they doing now?

At least it was paper, and not a banana peel.......okay, never mind.

 

[Saintaholik]

A quick little game of "Improved or Slipped". The elephant in the room is a 31 year old 295 lb DT many of us would like to add to the fold... but there's already a thread for that. So disregarding any potential future moves, at this point in the offseason, how does this year's team stack up to last year's team that came within a hanky-toss (or not) of reaching the Superbowl?

QB
Push. Same cast, same characters, same pecking order

RB
Push. AK will likely be in for an increased role and therefore production. Murray should only be asked to play the part Ingram would have played for us this year. Which is very doable.

TE
Improved. Jared Cook 2019 should be an upgrade from the 2018 version of Watson. Hill is the same solid #2 in-line TE he's always been, but there could be an upgrade at our #3 TE whether it's Alize Mack winning the spot or Arnold taking a step in his second year playing the position.

WR
At least slightly Improved. Same cast of characters except for the addition of a couple of UDFA signings. I say "slightly improved due the probability that we potentially hit on an UDFA or two... or at least our 2nd year players (Kirkwood and Smith) take at least a small step forward. A lot also hinges on Ginn and Meredith returning healthy. This position could just as easily "slip" as it could "boom". There's talent there for a boom to happen.

OL
I'm going to go against the grain and say slightly improved. I said earlier this offseason that Easton could potentially out-perform what Unger "would have" done for us this year. Unger admitted that last season he fell off towards the end of the season. He said that he played well below his own standards, which was a big part of the reason he decided to retire. Then we draft the #1 center in this year's class. Well, that makes Easton the new Kelemete... A versatile interior OLman with a proven track record. Quality depth, which we didn't have last season. I'm willing to go out on a limb and say that IF McCoy ultimately wins the starting job (as he should), that he should be an upgrade to 2018 Max Unger as well, with potential to be a big upgrade. It's a push as for OTs. We have the same cast of characters with a few potential depth guys... Exactly where we were this time last offseason there.

Offense overall
I see a slightly improved unit. Should have better depth at least on the OL and we should get more out of our receivers. Nothing Major... only added the best center in the draft and a pro-bowl pass catching TE.

Safety
Improved. I don't want to make too much of a rookie, but honestly... if he's got a pulse, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson is an upgrade for 2018 Kurt Coleman. The staring safeties are the same two guys we had the past two seasons. M. Williams fought a sophomore slump last year, Bell made huge strides. Look for Bell to plateau this season and look for Williams to make a hard rebound. Saquan Hampton is an interesting addition who cold make some noise as well.

CB
Improved. Similar to Williams, Lattimore caught the 2nd year blues for part of last season. However, the innate elite talent and competitive fire saw him back to form later in the year. Apple seemed to steadily get better last season as he became more familiar and comfortable with our defensive scheme. PJ filled in just fine when P-Rob went down last season. Well, P-Rob is back and practicing, and that same rookie mentioned above in the safety category, could ultimately end up being our slot CB. I'm not going to say this position group is a huge improvement, but it could be. We have the same cast of characters as well as a few players with potential.

LB
Push. Same starters and depth as last year, except for the LB#5 role. I don't like losing Te'o from a depth perspective... But as far as production goes, there shouldn't be any noticeable difference to last year's squad.

DL
Slipped backwards. I'm still not sure exactly how big of a slip this is. Yes, Onyemata is good, but at least to date, he's not Rankins-level. Neither is Edwards. But we did bring in Brown, who should be a very noticeable upgrade from Davison. At DE, we lost Okafor who earned the 8 mill/yr he got from the Chiefs. Other than a couple UDFAs, we brought in a DE version of C-Nick Easton. Hendrickson and Horton should duke it out in camp. It's possible that both make the final roster with one being a weekly inactive. I actually like all the guys we brought in, but man it's hard to replace what Okafor brought to this team, although it's Davenport's job to do exactly that. Also... no team would feel good about their D-line if they knew they were going to have to play at least 1/2 the season without their #1 and near elite 3-tech pass rushing DT.

Defense overall.
Push. I think our back-end will be improved, but our pass-rush will slip a little (at least our interior rush). Also, we finished last season with the #2 run defense in the league. That shouldn't change as we've actually upgraded on leg of that interior triangle. To me, the only question is whether or not our "slightly improved" secondary can cover for our "slipped" DL. This could go either way.

ST
Improved. Simply put, our K and P are as good as it gets and our core special teamers have been pretty special for years now. However, when was the last time we could say that we have a 100% real, true-blue, bonafide return specialist? (Answer: a long time) Well, now we do. Sherels is slightly long in the tooth, but has shown no signs of slowing down so far. We've also brought in quite a few players to compete for roster spots as special teamers. We should do well in the hidden yardage department this coming season

Coaching Staff
Push. Yeah, we shuffled a few minor coaching roles in and out, but the key players are still in place. The only major change was replacing the Special Teams Coordinator.

Schedule
Push. Yeah, it's tough to decide which teams will be improved, which ones will slip, and how injuries and other unpredictable events will play out. But going by last season's results, our schedule should be slightly easier this season. The balance to that, (forcing a push) is the opening stretch. Houston, LARams, Seattle, and Cowboys... That appears to be quite a gauntlet to start the season.

Absolutely Great Post OP

I really appreciate the work you put into this thread.

I couldn't agree more with what you wrote and I pretty much agree with everything you said.

Great Job Man

Who Dat

 

[silverbullet]

Slipped at QB. Brees faded at the end of the year. Mainly due to OL and WR injuries but I don’t see how you get better at 40.

Bridgewater is irrelevant since if he plays the team is done anyway.

RB slipped chemistry and maybe talent wise.

OL is a wildcard and totally dependent on health.

WR should be improved slightly.

TE will be much better

DL will slip

LB will stay about the same

S should improve slightly

CB will be better if Robinson is ok

ST big improvement. TLL was bad. The dude from the Vikings will be way better and coverage should be solid

Overall I’d say slightly slipped but a healthy OL and it should be good enough for another run

 

[Joodas Avila]

I think the only positions that appear to have slipped on paper are RB & Base DE. But on that note, we do have Ozigbo at RB, as well as Granderson & Gustin at DE. LB could also be a concern if DDavis or AA47 go down at some point. But then again, we do have Klein & Craig Rob. We also got Safeties like Vonn & CG-J who also play the MONEY.

 

[JvilleJoe]

I am of the view that we have clearly improved on paper year over year, Cooks alone makes our offense more diverse and our young defense also appears to have added some competition and quality, even with the short term loss of Sheldon Rankins. I am however wondering what impact that NFC Championship gave will have on this teams psyche this year. Two years in a row with heart wrenching last second losses can be difficult to overcome while maintaining the same level of intensity that will be required to compete week to week this year! If any team can do it I think it will be the Saints, but that question won't be answered until a few weeks into the season!

 

[dutar76]

I am of the view that we have clearly improved on paper year over year, Cooks alone makes our offense more diverse and our young defense also appears to have added some competition and quality, even with the short term loss of Sheldon Rankins. I am however wondering what impact that NFC Championship gave will have on this teams psyche this year. Two years in a row with heart wrenching last second losses can be difficult to overcome while maintaining the same level of intensity that will be required to compete week to week this year! If any team can do it I think it will be the Saints, but that question won't be answered until a few weeks into the season!

I dont think the miracle or the screwjob will have much impact on our team at all. Emotion usually only carries the first and last drives of games. Winning comes more from preparation, focus, and execution. For that, you either have the right players and coaches or you dont. We do.